Halter.



E. M. HlGGlNS.

HALTER.

APPUCATION HLED FEB-3,1915- 1,232,308. Patented July 3, 1917.

WITNESSES: IN V EN TOR.

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A TTOR NE Y5 ELLEN M. HIGGINS, 0F MARLBORO, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

HALTER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 3, 1 91.7.

Application filed February 3, 1915. Serial No. 5,971.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ELLEN M. HIGGINS, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at Marlboro, in the county of Cheshire and State of New Hampshire, have invented a new and useful Halter, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in tie-ropes or halters for horses and other animals, and consists of a rope or equivalent member, and certain peculiar fastening, guiding and adjusting devices for such rope, the latter being looped and arranged in a manner which is also peculiar to the new halter construction, provision being made furthermore for a throat-latch, all as here-. inafter set forth.

The object of my inventionis to produce a strong, durable, simple, and inexpensive halter, which can be easily and quickly ade justed to fit the head of any animal for which the halter is suitable, is not liable to slip or be pulled out of shape, and holds the animal securely.

The halter can be placed on. the animals head and removed therefrom with ease and despatch.

Other objects and advantages will appear in the course of the following description.

I attain the objects and secure the advantages of my invention by the means illustrated in the accompanying drawing, which is a perspective view of a halter that embodies a practical form of said invention, such halter being represented as in position on the head of a horse that appears in broken-line outline in said view.

Although I have illustrated and will describe a practical embodiment of the halter, it is to be understood that more or less change in the shape, size, arrangement, and construction of some or all of the parts thereof may be made without departing from the nature of my invention.

The rigid and the flexible members, which together enter into the makeup of or constitute my invention, may be constructed of any suitable materials, some metal being preferably used for the rigid members, and ordinary rope for the flexible member or members. The term rope as herein em ployed, however, is intended to cover any flexible member that could be used in place of a piece or length of the material commonly known as and named rope.

Referring to the drawing, it will be observed that the halter comprises, primarily, cheek plates 1 and 2, right and left respectively, and a rope arranged with the aid of said plates to form a nose loop 3, a head loop 4, and a. running or loose jaw loop 5. 1n addition to these parts there may be added a pair of side-head plates 6, which are similar in all respects to the cheek plate 1, and a throat-latch 7 provided with a snap-hook 8.

Each of the plates 1 and 6 is of trefoil configuration and has three openings 9 therein. Each opening 9 is adapted to re ceive therein the rope out of which are .formed the above-mentioned loops, or the rope out of which the throat-latch 7 is made. When the rope is passed through two adjacent openings 9, in any given plate 1 or 6, which openings said rope should fit somewhat snugly, and pulled tight, neither the rope or plate can be moved independently of the other without first loosening the rope between the openings. Thus it will be seen that the plates in question are particularly well adapted both for attaching or securing purposes and for adjustment purposes, whether said plates be adjusted on the rope or the latter be adjusted through or relative to said plates.

The cheek plate 2 has two openings therein like the openings 9, and is provided with a ring 10 through which the rope passes to form the loop 5, and in which said rope may run freely.

In this case one end of the rope is fastened at 11, in any suitable manner, to the cheek plate 1, being passed through the upper opening 9 therein, then said rope after forming the head loop 4 is passed through the openings 9 in the cheek plate 2, first going through the top opening in said plate 2 and then through the bottom opening therein, next said rope after forming the nose loop 3 is passed through the front opening 9 and then the rear opening 9 in said plate 1, and finally said rope is carried across to and through the ring 10, leaving the chin or jaw loop 5 between the rearmost lobe of said plate 1 and said ring, and hanging loosely from the latter. The loose terminal ortion of the rope should be long enough or leading and tying purposes. A portion of the aforesaid loose or free terminal of the rope is represented at 12. When the terminal 12 is pulled tight, either by a person or by the animal, the rope slips in the ring 10, draws the loop 5 against the under jaw,

and acting through the plates 1 and 2 draws the loop 3 more tightly about the nose, so that the animal can. not disengage his head from the halter, the loop t being held socurely in place by the two first-mentioned loops. As soon as the terminal 12 is loosened the nose and jaw members of the rope cease to bind and the nose and jaw are left comparatively free once more. The rope at no time, except when loosened between two adjacent openings 9, slips in said openings.

The side plates 6 are adjusted at the required height on the comparatively straight reaches of the loop 4, each of such reaches passing through two of the openings 9 in one of said plates. Each plate (3 is arranged with the two openings 9 therein, through which the rope passes, in an approximately vertical position in front, and the third opening 9 behind. One end of the throatlatch 7 is secured at 13 to the right-hand plate 6, being passed through the rear openin 9 in said plate. The attachment between the throat-latch 7 and the plate 6, to which said throat-latch is permanently secured, may be made in any suitable manner and by any suitable means. The snap-hook 8 is secured at 1% to the free end of the throat-latch 7, and is adapted to be attached to and detached from the perforated rear portion of the left-hand plate 6. Any other suitable hook lnight be substituted for the snap hook 8 shown. The throat-latch T is provided for the same purpose as any throatlatch, and after being passed under the animals neck is fastened in a similar manner to any throat-latch. Before the halter can be removed from the head the snaphook 8 must, of course, be detached from its plate 6 in order to release the throatlatch 7. If the throat-latch is not used the plates (3 may be omitted.

The halter is placed on and taken off of the animals head in practically the same way any other similar type of rope halter is, and as already pointed out the throatlatch when present involves no new procedurc.

Insted of fastening the rope end at 11 to the upper part of the cheek plate 1, said end might be Secured to the bottom forward part of said plate, in which event the rope would, after forming the nose loop 3, pass through the two openings 5) in the cheek plate 2, thence, after forming the head. loop 4-, through the upper and lower rear openings 9 in said plate 1, and finally to and through the ring 10 as in the first instance.

lVhat I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is"

As an improved article of manufacture, a halter comprising a check plate having three openings therein, a check plate consisting in part of a ring and having two openings therein, a rope having one terminal passed through one of the openings in said first-mentioned plate and attached to said plate, and having the other terminal passed freely through said ring, said rope being formed into head, nose and jaw loops, and passing through the other two openings in said first-mentioned plate and the said two openings in said second-mentioned plate to engage frictionally the edges of such openings, a throat-latch provided with a hook, and plates for said tln'oat-latch, to one of which plates the tliroat-latch is permanently fastened at one end, each of said last-mentioned plates having two openings therein for the passage of one reach of that portion of the rope which forms said head loop, and being slidingly adjustable thereon, the edges of said last-mentioned openings frictionally engaging said rope, and each of said last-mentioned plates having a third opening therein, one to receive the permanently-attached end of the throat-latch and the other for said hook.

ELLEN M. HIGGINS.

Witnesses Gnonen F. HIGGINS, BESSIE E. MnmnAM.

Copies 01 this patent may be obtained for iive cents each, by addressing the "Commissioner of Patanta. Washington, D. 0." 

